California Bans State-Funded Travel to Anti-LGBTQ+ States

The state of California has made it quite clear over the last few years that they will not tolerate bigotry or discrimination. The Golden State is working to push equality past their own borders. California recently issued travel bans for states that write anti-LGBT+ discrimination into law.

So to clarify: Assembly Bill 1887 makes it so that one cannot travel to North Carolina, Mississippi, Tennessee, or Kansas on tax payer money. That means that state funded or state sponsored travel to those state has now been banned. Those states in particular are banned because each has passed laws that directly discriminate against LGBTQ+ people.

For example, Tennessee recently passed a law that allows counselors to turn away LGBTQ+ people with mental health illnesses. Mississippi allows individuals, companies, or religious organizations to deny services to anyone (not just LGBTQ+ people) who offend their “sincerely held religious beliefs.” And Kansas? Well, Governor Sam Brownback just recently signed a bill into law that allows campus religious groups to deny membership to LGBTQ+ students and faculty.

But California won’t have any of it. While the ban on state sponsored travel to those states probably won’t pummel their economies into submission, it’s likely to at least have an impact. But regardless, it’s more about the intent. California is literally doing everything in its power to create a more just and equal society.

When North Carolina passed HB 2 (which the state’s new Democratic governor is doing everything he can to repeal) a number of states, sports organizations, and businesses withdrew their support by deciding not to host events or expand business there. The American people, as well as a number of state and local governments, have made it abundantly clear that discrimination against LGBTQ+ people will no longer be tolerated. The future is definitely looking brighter for LGBTQ+ people.